LIVING

Do you retire in the evening, your hands daubed in shea butter, encased in fine cotton gloves? No, nor I. Which I regret as a nocturnal ritual, because as soon as I hit 30 I looked at the back of my hands and saw the paws of a 50 year old welder. I have bulbous knuckles and crow’s legs for fingers, each clad with thin, loose and incredibly wrinkled skin, freckled with the odd tonal blemish. Not very attractive!

To be fair on skin, it has to work damn hard. It's thick in some places and stupidly thin in others. Some of it is covered in hair, some of it not. Patches of facial skin will be simultaneously oily and spotty, with other patches dry and flaky. All in all, skin contradicts itself perpetually.

What I didn’t know is that the skin is the body’s heaviest and largest organ. It weighs 4-5 kg, and has a total surface area of around two metres square, roughly the size of my bathroom. The skin is composed of two layers, the epidermis and the dermis. The epidermis is the outermost layer and acts as a protective barrier, insulating and preventing us from drying out. Skin is thickest on the palms and soles and thinnest on the lips and around the eyes.

We each have around 300 million skin cells, which gradually regenerate (around every 50 days). This process keeps the dust mites in your carpet very content as they digest the constant shower of microscopic flakes.

Skin Baddies

A major cause of ageing skin is ultraviolet light, specifically UVA. UVA penetrates deeper than UVB and damages the dermis, including the elastine which causes wrinkling and thinning. UVB causes pigmentation changes (liver spots or sunspots) and burns the skin. Unsurprisingly your face and hands (especially mine) take the brunt of everyday sun strain. A good general tip is to wear sunscreen or a good handcream with an SPF factor that blocks both UVA and UVB.

Other skin enemies include cigarettes and alcohol - not very rock 'n' roll.

Servicing your skin
Your skin reflects your health. So if you suddenly breakout in something nasty - or flaky, then you need to look at your lifestyle, predominantly what does and doesn't go into your system.

Drink plenty of water to keep your skin hydrated. A glass of water with and between each meal does the trick. It's like changing the oil, only you do it daily. You need Vitamin B to maintain healthy skin. Sources of vitamin B include; bananas, lentils, chili peppers, tempeh, liver, turkey, brewers yeast, Vegemite and Marmite.

Descaling always feels nice, more so when you see the results gracefully adorning the inside of your bath tub (or is that just me?). This is especially important if you are over 30 as the skin’s natural ability to get rid of dead skin is impaired (which also makes it look dull). After you have exfoliated, moisturise your whole body, best after a warm shower/bath.

And when it comes to you hands you should moisturise them after every single wash! If you are really good you will wear gloves when you wash up too - or you'll end up with hands like mine!

Save your skin: read more about hydrating your epidermis!
Give yourself a hand: Check out our hand cream reviews